German business fears possible consequences of sanctions taken against Russia

November 26, 2014, 11:29 UTC+3STUTTGARTGerman companies fear that China, Brazil or other countries might replace them in Russia and that the assets of foreign companies might be nationalized in retaliation for the western sanctions

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VTB head Andrey Kostin

STUTTGART, November 26. /TASS/. German companies have expressed concern that as result of sanctions taken against Russia other companies from Brazil and China might replace them on the Russian market, President of the VTB Bank Andrey Kostin told a briefing.

"The trade turnover and imports to Russia are being cut to a considerable extent because of the sanctions. The companies put on sanctions lists have confronted obstacles to business apart from restrictive measures of a purely economic character because of declining opportunities for currency deals," he said.

"Therefore, they fear that China, Brazil or other countries might replace them in Russia. The German companies also fear that the assets of foreign companies, including German companies, might be nationalized in retaliation for the western sanctions," Kostin said.

“The German businessmen have been talking about problems with financing their exports to Russia, while no such problems exist for China. Thus, the KfW Bank and other banks have withdrawn their support for reasons of sanctions taken not only by the European Union, but the United States as well.

"We have been discussing these problems and working on them, of course, but the European banks have had their hands tied up. They fear both their own sanctions and the US sanctions. All we can do now is to do more or less regular work in the directions not affected by sanctions," the VTB president said.